During certain surgical procedures, it may be necessary to securely clamp and/or occlude body conduits (for example, blood vessels) of various sizes and thicknesses. Gripping or clamping instruments are often used in many types of medical procedures such as heart, lung, bariatric, and vascular surgeries. Existing clamps provide little feedback regarding how tightly the clamp is attached to a particular tissue. This can result in clamps which are holding tissue too tightly or too loosely. In the case where tissue, such as a blood vessel, is held too loosely, unexpected blood flow or blood loss may complicate a surgery, especially if the loose clamp falls off. In the case where tissue is held too tightly, the tissue may be physically damaged from an excessive clamping force and/or biologically damaged due to excessively reduced blood flow to the tissue in the region where the clamp is applied. Furthermore, depending on the design, if a surgical clamp is attached too tightly, it may have a tendency to be forced off the clamped tissue if the tissue is slippery.
In addition to clamping considerations to ensure surgical clamps are able to properly occlude body conduits, the prior art often overlooks concerns for how such clamps release. As one example, surgeons frequently use aortic cross clamps to occlude blood flow from the heart through the aorta as part of many heart surgeries, such as coronary artery bypass or aortic valve replacement surgeries. When such surgeries are near completion, and the surgeon is ready to unclamp the aorta, it may be desirable to remove the cross clamp slowly in order to avoid profound hypertension which may result from rapid reperfusion. This slow release can be difficult with some clamps as their jaws tend to create a V-shape as they are opened, thereby increasing the likelihood that the previously clamped vessel will suddenly push itself out of the clamp towards the open end of the “V”, regardless of how carefully or slowly the surgeon is trying to open the clamp.
Therefore, there is a need for a surgical clamp and clamp jaw which has a reliable indication of when it is properly clamped in order to increase holding strength while reducing potential tissue damage due to excessive clamping force. Furthermore, there is also a need for a surgical clamp and clamp jaw which enables a more controlled clamp release process in order to reduce the risk of tissue damage due to pressure spikes from reestablished blood flow when clamps are removed.